Touchdown

Touchdown Read Free Page A

Book: Touchdown Read Free
Author: Yael Levy
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like he was going crazy. But he couldn’t think about his fear or his doubts. He couldn’t let himself feel anything because if he did, he might hesitate and if anyone got a whiff, then he’d lose.
    And football was his chance. His only chance to make something of himself. He wasn’t the best student, and his dad’s bookstore business was failing. (How could he forget? Dad reminded him harshly every chance he could in that tight voice of his, hoarse after too many drinks.) Sure, he dreamed of moving to France and studying to be a chef, but really, who was he kidding? He couldn’t afford that.
    Go Bullfrogs! The great cacophony of cheers pulsated through the stadium and locker rooms. Clay turned toward his teammates who were all finishing up grooming themselves for their part in yell night. Usually it didn’t matter how they looked—it only mattered how they played. But tonight was different: It was the end of summer, and the beginning of the season, and they were all dressed in suits, ready to march out and take their places in the hearts and minds of their community.
    “Y’all ready?” Clay called out to his team.
    “Ready!” they shouted back. “Go Bullfrogs!”
    Clay’s coach nodded, and Clay led his team out of the locker rooms and into the stadium.
    Go Bullfrogs! As the team marched onto the field, the crowd went wild.
    Clay inhaled the smell of the turf and felt the excitement of the crowd pulsate through the air. He immediately noticed Leigh, sitting in the bleachers not far from where he stood, her long red hair cascading down her back, framing her pale skin, which looked luminescent in the moonlight. She usually wore T-shirts and jeans, but tonight, like all of the students, she’d gotten dressed up. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her in a dress, and the light color made her look so . . . pretty?
    He didn’t know what to make of that.
    She waved, and he smiled at her. Suddenly all of his fears settled quietly in his gut and he felt happy, encouraged, and capable.
    Go Bullfrogs! The crowd cheered as his team took their positions in a straight line, waving to the crowd.
    His girlfriend, Coach’s daughter Carolyn, who he’d started dating at the end of last season when he made quarterback, was standing in front of the bleachers with her sorority sisters, all dressed alike in frilly pink dresses as they riled up the crowd with their cheers. He hadn’t seen her much over the summer; she’d been vacationing at her beach home on Tybee Island while he was busy practicing for the season. But still, everybody knew they were an item—Carolyn had told them so.
    Clay’s teammate Austin handed him the football, covered in blue and white paint, the colors of their team.
    “What the—” Clay said as he tried not to drop the wet ball while Austin, his hands wet with blue paint, stepped back and chuckled.
    “I thought we’d spice things up this year,” Austin said. He slapped Clay on the back.
    “You getting me full of paint?” Clay laughed, and then threw the ball at Austin, the paint splattering his suit.
    Thomas Booth, who stood behind Clay, shouted at Austin, “What are you doing with that? You’re making a mess.”
    Austin laughed. “It washes off!” He threw the ball back to Clay.
    Booth furrowed his eyebrows. “That’s not our tradition.”
    Clay laughed and threw the ball to Booth. “It is now!”
    Booth strained to catch it, but too late; the ball, slippery with paint, slipped out of his grasp.
    Crowds of students in the stadium laughed as Booth, his suit now splattered blue, and his face clearly red, picked up the ball.
    “Watch your back,” Booth said. “I’m going to get you for that!”
    The team laughed as they all took turns throwing the ball to each other and splattering each other wet with paint.
    Carolyn walked away from her spot by the bleachers and called out to her boyfriend. “Clay, it’s close to midnight. Everybody’s waiting—when are y’all going to throw the

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